Kejadian 19:21

19:21 “Very well,” he replied, ¹  “I will grant this request too ²  and will not overthrow ³  the town you mentioned.

Kejadian 20:4

20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, ⁴  would you really slaughter an innocent nation? ⁵ 

[19:21]  ¹ tn Heb “And he said, ‘Look, I will grant.’” The order of the clauses has been rearranged for stylistic reasons. The referent of the speaker (“he”) is somewhat ambiguous: It could be taken as the angel to whom Lot has been speaking (so NLT; note the singular references in vv. 18-19), or it could be that Lot is speaking directly to the Lord here. Most English translations leave the referent of the pronoun unspecified and maintain the ambiguity.

[19:21]  ² tn Heb “I have lifted up your face [i.e., shown you favor] also concerning this matter.”

[19:21]  ³ tn The negated infinitive construct indicates either the consequence of God’s granting the request (“I have granted this request, so that I will not”) or the manner in which he will grant it (“I have granted your request by not destroying”).

[20:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[20:4]  ⁵ tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.